Wyoming SBDC - Securing Strategic Investors and Partners

The “Securing Strategic Investors and Partners” workshop is tailored to help small business owners attract investors who bring more than just capital to the table. This session explores the unique dynamics of strategic investment, focusing on finding partners who align with your business’s long-term vision and can provide industry expertise, market access, or operational synergies. Attendees will learn how to identify and approach strategic investors, structure mutually beneficial agreements, and leverage partnerships to scale their operations. Through real-world examples, expert-led discussions, and practical exercises, participants will gain the tools to develop a strategic investment strategy that fosters sustainable growth while building valuable partnerships in their industry.

Speaker: Oltac Unsal, Advisor on Venture Investing

Tambourine Innovation Ventures

Oltac Unsal brings extensive experience in the technology entrepreneurship, investment, and development sectors. He is the President of Smyrna Capital and has invested in over 45 startups in technology, renewable energy, and other opportunistic sectors. His success in their entrepreneurial ventures is greatly attributable to his mentoring of the portfolio businesses on market positioning, growth, and sales strategy. In these ventures, he has led the development of numerous products (from conception to lab tests to mass engineering and sales).

Mr. Unsal has worked as a Senior Advisor/Manager at the World Bank. He managed Early Stage Innovation Financing programs and initiatives in 50+ countries for infoDev and led ministerial-level innovation-led economic development initiatives in over 30+ countries. During his position as Senior Portfolio and Offerings Manager for Microsoft, Oltac assisted the turnaround of $500M unprofitable Enterprise Services to $800M, 14% profit business in 3 years through focusing on value-priced productized services and international. He also architected a three-year offerings strategy to reinvent all of Enterprise Services away from a cost-plus business model to define a clear “theater of operations” that minimized channel conflict and helped the Federal team redefine offerings pricing and strategy to minimize support costs by 42% and increase customer response times by 75%. He also served as Investor-In-Residence at USAID Development Innovation Ventures (DIV).

Mr. Oltac Unsal holds an MBA in Finance/Entrepreneurship from Stanford Business School and a BA in Politics, Philosophy, and Economics from Whitman College.